Patricia Greig is currently cruising from Barcelona to London on the Viking Sea's christening cruise. She will be posting updates throughout the trip.
Did you miss me yesterday? I'm sorry, I was delirious in bed and couldn't write.
I found myself roaming the bowels of the ship in the early morning in search of the medical centre, I think I went down a few crew only halls before I discovered the medical staff who looked at me strangely as I burst through a door.
"Are you crew?" one nurse asked me, disgustedly.
"I have... Some symptoms," I replied, screwing my face up at her tone, not wanting to go into intense detail with a nurse with the attitude of the century.
Yes, the dreaded acute gastro struck me like it has struck many before. And no, I hadn't "hit the sauce too hard," as Aussie W kindly suggested.
Because the ship is essentially its own delicate eco-system of germs, anyone exhibiting any symptoms of gastro has to go into isolation immediately to prevent the disease spreading. If you dare leave the assigned room you will get chucked off the ship quicker than you can say Jack Sparrow.
Thankfully I was the only one unwell and because I behaved and stayed in my room, eating boiled broccoli from Viking Sea's special sick-person room service menu, there hasn't been an outbreak of norovirus.
The past is the past, and today we pulled into Seville's port Cadiz. This is the oldest continually inhabited city in Spain. The city is home to Catedral Nueva the third largest gothic cathedral in Europe, although i'm not entirely sure how they could make them any bigger.
The building itself is incredible, with several chapels inside to various saints, a beautiful crypt and the grandest altar I have ever seen. The serenity was overwhelming.
- nzherald.co.nz